Hackers

Yang Chen accompanied Mo Qianni for the entire afternoon, in an attempt to lift her spirits. It took some convincing but she eventually felt less worried about their future prospects.

When he reached home after work, Lin Ruoxi was watching a TV drama with Guo Xuehua and Wang Ma.

When she saw that Yang Chen had reached home, there was an indescribable look in Lin Ruoxi’s eyes. One thing Yang Chen could be sure of was that Lin Ruoxi was a little upset.

“Mom, I’ll serve the dishes.” Lin Ruoxi stood up and walked straight to the kitchen without even glancing at Yang Chen’s way.

Yang Chen was a little baffled. Didn’t we just make up yesterday? I was already thinking about our next step from now on. Why is she angry at me again?

Thus, Yang Chen followed her into the kitchen. He took two dishes and followed behind Lin Ruoxi, smiling as he said, “Dear, why didn’t you even greet your husband who has just come home? This is so unharmonious.”

Lin Ruoxi placed the dishes on the table and turned around. She let out a disdainful smile and said, “What were you doing this afternoon?”

Yang Chen was too stunned for words. Judging by Lin Ruoxi’s behavior, she had probably found out that he spent the entire afternoon accompanying Mo Qianni.

“Can’t explain yourself? Let me say it out for you. The entire company was discussing about why Director Yang disappeared for the entire afternoon after leaving with Vice President Mo. Wu Yue even ran into my office asking if I knew what was going on,” Lin Ruoxi glared at Yang Chen in anger, saying, “How was I supposed to answer any of their questions? Tell her I don’t know? What a joke that would be. I don’t even know that my husband went out on a date with my vice president right under my nose. Tell her that I know? Then what kind of situation would that be?”

Yang Chen shrugged resignedly. “I… didn’t think things through. Actually we didn’t really do anything. You of all people know the mood Qianni has been in. I brought her out for lunch, and we went shopping after.”

“You don’t have to report to me. I can’t control you anyway. I don’t want to become one of those jealous wives. You do whatever you like to do. I just hope that you would consider how your actions implicate me next time,” Lin Ruoxi said.

Yang Chen tried to please her and said smilingly, “How about this? I’ll spend the whole day with you tomorrow on a date. I happen to be free since I’m done with the busy office affairs.”

As she finished her words, Lin Ruoxi couldn’t be bothered with Yang Chen anymore. She just continued walking into the kitchen to bring out the dishes.

Yang Chen scratched his head. He was at a loss of how to appease Lin Ruoxi’s anger. He had offended her while trying to please Mo Qianni. Even when he himself pictured the scenario where Wu Yue asked Lin Ruoxi about the matter, he felt extremely awkward and he wouldn’t know how to answer too.

Yang Chen couldn’t even taste what he was eating for the whole dinner because Lin Ruoxi didn’t speak a word. She just went back into her room upstairs to work after eating.

After cleaning up the dishes, Guo Xuehua removed her apron and suddenly called out to Yang Chen who was about to go upstairs. She said, “Son, follow me to my room.”

Yang Chen wondered what his mother was up to again. But he nodded his head nonetheless and followed her.

Entering Guo Xuehua’s room, Yang Chen was asked to sit on the edge of the bed beside her. She took a close look at Yang Chen’s face before she said with a warm smile, “I overheard part of the conversation between you and Ruoxi just now. Now, this is all your fault. How could you place her in such an awkward position? It’s fine if it’s just our own family members who know about it. If others learn about it, it would be extremely detrimental to both Ruoxi and Qianni.”

Yang Chen nodded silently. “I’ve thought about it too. I was indeed a little too rash. But I only did it because I haven’t been able to reach Qianni lately. I was starting to get anxious about how to deal with the situation. That’s why I couldn’t care less.”

Guo Xuehua sighed slowly, “Do you really like that girl so much? Even though her mother is so opposed to it, are you still unwilling to let her go?”

Yang Chen shook his head and let out a faint smile. There were mixed feelings in his eyes. “If I were to let go right now, then I wouldn’t have accepted her in the first place. People can say that I’m selfish or hypocritical, but all I know is that I don’t want to experience the feeling of losing a woman that I love anymore.”

Guo Xuehua was a little taken aback. She could tell that he was talking about some incident from his past, but she knew that it was definitely not a good memory. Thus, she evaded the topic and said, “Don’t be too impulsive. You can’t rush this.”

Yang Chen smiled in relief. “Mom, rest assured. I know that Aunt Ma is the most important person to Qianni. No matter what, I will always take her feelings into consideration. I won’t be reckless. I plan to meet Aunt Ma after I properly formulate an apology. Even if she chases me away, I will endure it. Even though this way of dealing with things makes me feel bottled up inside, this is the only way right now.”

Guo Xuehua held onto one of Yang Chen’s hand with both her hands. She patted on his hand and said in relief, “Mom was precisely worried that you would go overboard in this matter. Now that you have made things clear, I feel relieved.

“Did you know this, Yang Chen? Back then when I first saw you, before we acknowledged each other, your actions bore similar resemblance to a ticking time bomb. It made me very worried. Perhaps you were too used to living your life alone overseas. Or perhaps the environment that you grew up in shaped you that way, making you overbearing, oppressive, and sometimes even unreasonably bossy.

“Although I could tell all along that you are actually a kind-hearted child, you were always doing things according to your whims. This will make the people around you love and hate you at the same time.

“Now it seems like you’ve grown to pay more consideration to the people around you, and you’re more attentive to details. Although it might be just like what you’ve said, that you feel restrained in doing things; many matters that used to be extremely simple are now dragged on almost like there’s no end to them. But, to have all sorts of relationships that confine us during our time in this world, isn’t that what makes life truly worth living?”

Yang Chen smiled brightly. “Mom, are you giving me a lecture now? Rest assured, I’ll pay more attention in the future. I’ll take into consideration everyone around me. I used to care only for myself, disregarding the deaths of everyone else around me. But now that I have family members around me, I know what to do and what not to do.”

Guo Xuehua pressed her finger against her son’s forehead once before she stood up and said, “It’s good that you know that. Now, go back to your room and rest. Mom will cut you some fruits and send them to your room.”

The next morning, Yang Chen who had turned up for work as usual had a simple meeting with Zhao Teng and Wang Jie. Around 9 o’clock after the meeting, he finally saw An Xin walking into the office with slightly unstable steps.

Yang Chen frowned. He picked up the smell of overnight alcohol. “Babe An Xin, did you drink last night?”

An Xin’s face was a little gloomy. She forced a smile. “Mmm. My friend had a birthday so I drank quite a bit. Don’t worry I’m fine. But I’m late, I hope you don’t deduct my pay.”

Yang Chen sighed and walked to her side. He held her hand in his and slowly channeled True Yuan into her meridians.

Ever since he broke through the Xiantian stage, his Xiantian True Qi had also transformed into a kind of energy closer to its origin called True Yuan. But it also carried with it the formidable recovery power from the Endless Resolve Restoration Scripture, thus making it easy and natural to repair any damaged tissues.

An Xin felt a surge of warmth throughout her body that was so comfortable she felt like sleeping. In the blink of an eye, her fatigue and dispiritedness were all gone.

It wasn’t her first time witnessing Yang Chen’s miraculous powers. She said with an endearing smile, “Hubby, you’re just like a Doraemon. You’re omnipotent.”

“Stop comparing me to something that’s not even human,” Yang Chen joked. Then, he said, “Even if you have a gathering with friends, don’t drink too much. If I catch you doing it again, I’ll be sure to smack you. And I won’t help you recover so soon. I’ll just leave you to experience the miserable feeling.”

An Xin pouted and said wrongfully, “Okay.”

Since matters had been put in order, Yang Chen planned to leave the company to meet Ma Guifang to have a good talk about Mo Qianni. However, his subordinate Wang Jie who had just left the office came running back in a hurry.

With a flustered and anxious look on his face, Wang Jie said, “This is bad, Director Yang. Something has happened to the parent company.”

Both Yang Chen and An Xin were stunned. Yang Chen frowned and asked, “Parent company? What’s wrong with Yu Lei?”

Wang Jie wanted to explain, but he seemed like he didn’t know how to put it into words. In the end, he let out a sigh, and then ran to Yang Chen’s desk. Turning on the computer, he said, “Director Yang, come and have a look. Now the entire company is in a mess.”

Yang Chen and An Xin walked towards the computer in puzzlement. They looked at the contents shown on the screen and Yang Chen was baffled, whereas An Xin’s expression had changed instantly. She was staring at the screen with complete disbelief.

The contents on the screen were none other than various document files that had been placed in an online server for public access and download.

“How could this be? It’s impossible…” An Xin murmured.

Wang Jie had a devastated look on his face, “Miss An Xin, the whole company is going nuts over this. Ho—how could this have possibly happened?”

Yang Chen was completely clueless. He quickly asked, “An Xin, what are these documents? What purchase and what tender…”

An Xin let out a heavy sigh and said, “These documents are Yu Lei International’s purchasing plans, tender plans, negotiation plans, and partial acquisition plans for the next six months. And there’s also details of our major customers, product designs, and the internal financial budget of Yu Lei in addition to allocation plans.”

“I know what they mean. But what’s wrong with these documents?” Yang Chen asked, puzzled.

An Xin said bitterly, “Put it simply, these documents are all highly confidential documents of Yu Lei International. If any of these documents landed in the hands of our competitors, it would be a huge blow to our company. Yet so many of these documents have now all been made available on a public online platform. This means that Yu Lei International’s plans for the next six months is basically up for grabs right now. Think about it, we haven’t even started the negotiations, yet our competitors already know how much we’re going to bid. We haven’t purchased our materials, yet others are already one step before us, purchasing all the materials that we want. In this case, even if Yu Lei doesn’t go bankrupt, we’ll be set back a few years or even many years depending on the situation.”

“How did such important documents end up online?” Yang Chen finally understood the situation, “Could it be hackers?”

“Impossible,” Wang Jie shook his head and explained, “Director Yang, you might not know it well. But these important documents are usually kept in paper form. After all, if it were online, it’s impossible to guard against the skills of hackers nowadays. Big corporations like ours are their targets. That’s why these documents are always kept in offices of the company’s executives that hold the positions of general manager or even higher. They are stored securely in safes guarded by anti theft alarm systems.”

Yang Chen squinted his eyes and seemed to suddenly remember something. He asked, “Do we know the source where these documents were leaked out from yet?”

Wang Jie looked a little awkward as he pulled a long face and exclaimed, “The contents of these documents are mostly about negotiations and tenders, and some of them involve market planning. According to the rules, they’re all stored in the the public relations department. In other words, in Department Head Liu Mingyu’s office.”